Sensereferring

Sensereferring is a proposed concept in cognitive linguistics referring to the way sensory information guides the selection and expression of referents in language. It covers how perceptual features such as color, texture, sound, or motion influence what a speaker chooses to name or point to in a given context.

In sensereferring, referential choice is not determined solely by conventional labels or context; it is modulated by perceptual salience and embodied experience. The concept draws on embodied cognition and the distinction between sense and reference, suggesting that sensory content can become part of the intended meaning of a referring expression.

Researchers explore sensereferring through experiments on word choice in ambiguous scenes, eye-tracking to see which objects draw attention, and studies of cross-modal metaphor where sensory properties map to linguistic reference. It is related to, but distinct from, deixis, indexing, and the broader study of reference in pragmatics.

Example: in a scene with two similar balls, a speaker might refer to the "bright red ball" rather than the "ball" because the visual salient feature is red and bright at that moment. In storytelling, sensory cues can bias whom a referent is attributed to, even when multiple options are equally viable semantically.

Critics note that sensereferring risks conflating perceptual description with referential form and warn against overgeneralizing sensory influence across cultures or modalities. Further research aims to delineate when and how sensory content contributes to reference.